Matthew Melo arrived in Winkler last week ready to hit the ground running.
He started his new role as the Winkler Flyers’ head coach and general manager during a week that saw the team hosting its annual youth hockey school followed by Main Camp over the weekend in which over 70 junior hockey players competed for a spot on the roster.
A busy starting week, to be sure, but Melo relished every minute of it.
“I’m embracing the joy of this incredible opportunity,” he said. “It’s such a privilege and an honour, specifically when you think about where this program is right now and what’s been established.”
The Flyers head into the 2024-25 season as the defending MJHL champions, having won the Turnbull Cup for the first time in 26 years last spring.
Melo, who has spent the past two years as an assistant coach at the University of Western Ontario (USports), said the chance to take the reins from outgoing head coach and GM Justin Falk was one he couldn’t pass up.
“It’s always been a dream to be a head coach and general manager. I’ve been working towards that goal for many years,” he said, noting he started out as a junior hockey player himself before serving as head coach of the North Middlesex Stars (PJCHL) and then assistant coach at Briercrest College (ACAC) before moving on to his university position.
As a result of those past roles, Melo is well-versed in the national junior hockey world.
“Both in USport and the ACAC where I coached previously, we’re recruiting right across Canada, and these are the leagues that you’re very directly recruiting from,” he said. “So I’m really familiar with the MJHL and other leagues across Canada, but ultimately it will take time to learn the [Flyers] organization.
“I’ll be taking some time to get to know the board here … what’s important to them as an organization,” Melo continued, noting what he’s seen so far “directly aligns with who I want to be as a head coach and general manager. I can really be myself in this role and invest into a program the way I would desire to do it. It felt like an incredible fit.”
Melo says the behind-the-scenes team the club has put together in recent years is a credit to the organization.
“Just recognizing the people here and how well supported and well established things are in terms of an incredible board, incredible coaching staff. You’ve got Coltyn Bates, Eric Fehr, Ryan White—and that’s just the coaching staff. Then you look at the other roles that are already established in the organization and incredibly gifted in what they do … it means I can focus on getting up to speed, getting to know the players, acclimatizing myself to the responsibilities of this role.
“I think a lot of people would dream of being in this position. It’s been incredible.”
Looking back on his career, Melo feels he’s learned and grown a lot since his first time behind the bench in the southern Ontario junior league.
“I would say though those opportunities have really prepared me for stepping into this role and being effective and successful and building upon the momentum that’s been established here.”
He characterizes his coaching style as “transformational.”
“What’s important to me is investing into lives and coming alongside people for whatever goals they have in life and career and community, but also in the sport,” he said. “Really investing in a way that they feel supported and encouraged.
“I really desire to be consistent with guys and see them as more than just hockey players and treat them with incredible care,” Melo said, noting junior hockey is a formative time in a young player’s life. “They all have aspirations, individual goals to go in hockey as far as they can, so caring well isn’t just being soft with them. It’s also telling them the truth, being direct with guys, calling them up to the standard that they collaborate in establishing.
“That’s a huge part of what I love to do as well—seeing potential in people, being able to draw out strength, and calling them up to that potential.”
In the weeks ahead, Melo says he’ll focus on getting to know the returning players and hopeful rookies while also diving into the framework that got the Flyers to their championship win last season.
“I don’t need to come in elbows swinging and changing a whole bunch. There’s an opportunity to make little tweaks here and there, and obviously we’ve got some roster decisions to make, but in terms of strategy, the guys are familiar with what’s been successful.
“Obviously teams are going to change, they’re going to adapt, they’re going do things differently, so throughout the course of a year you’re making a ton of adjustments, but to start, no, it’s just kind of moving forward with the standard, the framework. Really coming in and making sure guys are aware of who we are as the Winkler Flyers and what we want to be as a culture and what our standard is.”
Defending the championship title is obviously a goal for the season ahead, but Melo has his sights set even higher.
“They won a Turnbull championship here … but there’s also more. There’s winning a Centennial Cup [the national junior hockey championship]. So being able to cast vision for continued growth—there’s still more for us to accomplish.”
The community, as always, will be a big part of the Flyers’ success again this year, Melo noted.
“I know how important the community is to this program,” he said. “Even just getting here, I’m hearing from the people within this organization how incredible the community is in their support, the way they pack the rink and the way they give us the opportunity to have everything that we need at our disposal to invest into these guys and their futures—not just in the game, but as men of character.
“I’m so excited to get into the community, to get our guys into the community to start meeting people. That’s going to be such a huge part of our year.”
The Flyers have pre-season exhibition games this Friday in Winkler against the Steinbach Pistons and then next week Friday, Sept. 13, in Steinbach.
The regular season begins Sept. 20 in Winkler against the Pistons.
